A Fair Fraud — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Fair Fraud Al for that, and she honestly believed that to see him happy with a good wife of his own would not cause her any sorrow, since she knew very well that she herself could never be anything more than his little cousin. Only, the wife of his choice must be worthy of him! But Marion felt extremely doubtful as to whether Hester Lane was worthy to be his wife. She was a lovely girl—she was even fascinating—and she was certainly more in- teresting, in Marion’s opinion, than her mother, but there was something about both of them that made her feel uncomfortable. What was it? What was there in the background of the charming picture they presented to the world that was unconvincing? Was it not a lack of sincerity? a certain meretricious unreality about them both? Why had Mrs Lane turned so deadly pale when she had looked at the envelope only of one of her letters? If it contained bad news of any friend or relation, would she have been so upset at the mere outside of it, and would she have talked SO gaily and cheerfully immediately after put- ting it into her pocket? And then that colour! Marion had, of course, heard of rouge, but she had never to her knowledge seen or suspected it before. Yet now she felt convinced that the lovely colour she had so ignorantly admired on Mrs GOMMGIOO